Cong Fang

Notes taken by Jesse Johnson (2011-08-09)

During his brief stay, he (Paul Washer) made time to head down to The Master’s Seminary, where he shared some thoughts on preaching to one of the homiletics classes there. I snuck in the back, took notes, and thought I’d share some of the highlights. Here are some of his more memorable quotes from that impromptu class:

“There are very few people who are known for evangelism, and yet who fall into the trap of liberal theology. It is very hard to get influenced by liberalism when you are out trying to win souls for Jesus.”

“I believe in the sovereignty of God over salvation, because I know that the conversion of a man is an absolute impossibility.”

“The doctrine of the sovereignty of God affects preaching in this way: every time, before you get into the pulpit, you ask yourself, ‘Lord, can these bones live?’ The answer: ‘only if you make them alive.'”

“Many seminaries turn out good preachers who do not lead godly lives. There are so many people out there who are concerned about the preparation of the sermon that they leave behind the preparation of the man.“

“To help yourself in your devotional life, ask this question over and over again, ‘how does the death of the son of God lead to my forgiveness, and how is that seen here in this passage?‘”

“Pastors need to recover the lost practice of staying up late and getting up early for the purpose of prayer. There is a sense that in the evangelical culture we have let the charismatics steal our heritage. We get to those powerful passages on prayer and go into defense mode against the wrong teachings of the charismatics, rather than into extolling the virtues of all-night prayer.”

“A structured sermon is good, but don’t ever turn God into a propositional statement. Someone should write a book on the idolatry of expository preaching.“

[On the role of parents vs. the youth pastor in training children]: “God did not give you a child to turn his spiritual development over to a 21-year-old with mousse in his hair who thinks he is cool.”

“As a pastor, always do theology in the context of the local church.”

“Preaching should never grow dull. There is never a time where truths have already been explained, so the pastor runs out of things to say. Semper reformanda (always reforming), so the truths need to be rediscovered every generation.”

“If a pastor studies a passage to figure out how to preach it, it will be a powerless sermon. If you labor over something to be preached, all that will happen is it will be heard. Instead, you have to ask: ‘What has this passage done to me?“

“Charismatics repeat the errors of the mystics. The problem with the mystics is that they were looking for the word of God in every place but the Bible.”

“Evangelism is why I exist. If everyone in the world was saved, you would never see me again. I’d move out to the mountains and be with my family.” — Paul Washer